Grief
by Ominae
Summary: Graham visits the parents of his deceased wingmen Howard Mason and Daryl Dodge after the defeat of Celestial Being to console them of their loss. SPOILER: End of Season 1, pre-Season 2.


Mobile Suit Gundam 00/Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 - Grief

By: Ominae

Rating: T

NOTE:

All characters of Gundam 00 are under the copyright of Seiji Mizushima, Sunrise and the Manichi Broadcasting System.

Summary:

Graham visits the parents of his deceased wingmen Howard Mason and Daryl Dodge after the defeat of Celestial Being to console them of their loss. SPOILER: End of Season 1, pre-Season 2.

* * *

Outside Residential House, outskirts of San Francisco, California, United States, World Economic Union

* * *

"It looks like I'm here."

Captain Graham Aker of the disbanded Union Air Force, wearing the black UAF bomber jacket over his white polo shirt. He also wore jeans and running shoes on as he had yet to be recruited to the Earth Federation military in an _official _capacity.

_Last time I heard fro Billy, he's living with Kujo for a while back in Japan with some problems? I wonder if it relates to Celestial Being._

The blonde, now scarred, UAF Over Flag pilot gave a deep breath before he knocked on the wooden door of the house near the outskirts of San Francisco; he had arrived by using his personal 4-door sedan with the address provided to him by Billy before he left the US to fly to Japan.

"Here goes nothing."

Graham curled up the fingers on his right hand and began to knock on the door loud enough for the occupants to hear it.

"Just a minute!" was the reply Graham had heard from inside the house. The blonde man saw that an African-American man in his late 50s opened the door.

"Ah..." The man eyed Graham carefully. "You must be Captain Aker that my son had talked about."

"Your son?" Graham was a bit surprised. "You mean Daryl?"

The man nodded. "Well, I can't keep you out here for long. Come on in, Howard Mason's parents are also here with us."

Graham stepped inside after being allowed to do so by the man. "Thank you, Mr. Dodge."

* * *

Living Room, Residential House, outskirts of San Francisco, California, United States, World Economic Union

* * *

"You must be Graham Aker."

Graham noted Mr. and Mrs. Mason, both Caucasians and having black hair, seated next to Mrs. Dodge.

"Yes, I am." Graham took a seat on the sofa in front of the Masons.

"What happened..." Mrs. Dodge stared at Graham's face. "to your face?"

"I've been engaged in a fight with one of the Gundams from Celestial Being." Graham explained, pointing to the scars on his face.

"Did..." Mrs. Mason asked Graham. "Did Celestial Being kill my Howard back there?"

Graham sighed.

"Initially we thought so." This made the Masons cringe. "But Union military intelligence has received reports from one of our double agents in the Human Reform League military's intelligence that the three Gundams that attacked the MSWAD HQ had been engaged by the same Gundams that appeared on Earth a year ago."

"I see." Mr. Mason walked past Graham and sat down next to him. "But let me ask you this."

"Of course." Graham replied. "Feel free to ask me."

"How did...our sons die out there?"

The Over Flags CO paused to observe the Dodges and the Masons. They were waiting for a reply for Graham.

A good and honest reply from him on their sons. His wingmen.

The first wingmen who Eifman had assisted in recruiting to the Over Flags from the ranks of the entire UAF.

"They..." Graham felt hesitant to answer Daryl and Howard's parents, lowering his head down. He didn't want them to be troubled over their deaths fighting the _Gundams_, but he felt that it was time that they needed some closure and move on with the rest of their lives.

"They died. They died doing the things they wanted to do."

Graham raised his heads to face the parents of his deceased wingmen.

"They died in order to protect this nation and the Union from all dangers."

"Thank you." Graham shook hands with Mr. Dodge before he did so with Mr. Mason.

"Uh..." Graham was a bit embarassed.

Mr. Mason shook his head. "We can at least move on, knowing how our sons had fought as part of the UAF."

"Please take this." Mrs. Mason showed a picture to Graham.

"I remember seeing this." Graham was surprised to see the _photo_ given to him.

"Daryl made duplicates and had them given to our family." explained. Mrs. Dodge. "I believe Mrs. Mason did the same thing too."

Graham took a minute to observe the photo. He saw that it was him, Daryl and Howard having smiles and grins on their faces while wearing their black UAF bomber jackets.

It was the only time that Graham had smiled in the company of his men.

"Thank you." Graham pocketed the photo. "I'll take good care of this."

For the next few minutes, Graham answered questions by the Dodges and Masons pertaining to the lives of their sons in the Over Flags and in the UAF in general before Mr. Dodge showed Graham the way out when he told them that he needed to leave.

"Thank you very much." Mr. Dodge shook hands with Graham. "You're able to give my wife some assurance that he didn't die needlessly."

"It was no problem at all." Graham did so and returned the handshake.

"My son told my mom that he wanted to do something to make her proud. Being with the UAF was the happiest day of her life."

"I understand. I'll make sure that Daryl didn't die in vain when he was under my command."

"I'm sure you will." Graham opened the door and excused himself. Mr. Dodge watched Graham arrive near his car before he closed the door to his residence.

* * *

Outside Residential House, outskirts of San Francisco, California, United States, World Economic Union

* * *

"Don't worry you guys." Graham stared at the sky, already clear in the afternoon.

_I've taken care of things here on my end. Your folks will be able to move on._

Graham got into his sedan and turned on its engine.

_And I've taken care of the Gundam myself. But will they be back?_

Graham's sedan drove off from the Dodge residence, heading towards downtown San Francisco.

THE END

PS - I decided to do this Graham-based fic when someone had the pic of Graham, Howard and Daryl in their black Union Air Force bomber jackets with Graham having his arms on Howard and Daryl while the three UAF pilots had smiles on their faces. Went to have a go at this and see if this was okay.'

Recently did a Centurions fic before this called Slice of Life. Feel free to read and review it when you guys have the time. Thanks!

I guess up next is a Gundam UC fic with a Kamille/Emma one based on the movie trilogy. It's much easier for me to do so.


End file.
